Process of making ammonia.



s'ra'rns PATENT onrfucn FRITZ H A-BEBQOF KARLSRUHE, AND BOIBEBT LE ROSSIGNOL, OF BERLIN, GERMANY,

-ASSIGNORS TO BADISCHE ANILIN & SODA FABRIK, OF LUDWIGSHAFEN-ON-THE- .BHINE, QERMANY, A CORPORATION.

- raoonss or MAKING AMMONIA} R Drawing,-

To all whom it may concern:

Be -'t-'known that -we, FRrrz' HABEB,

'Ph. D., professor of chemistry, and ROBERT La ROSSIGNOL, B. 80., chemist, subjects, re- .sp'ectively,'of the King of Prussia and the Kin of England, residing, respectively, at Kar sruhe and Berlin, Germany, have inventedfnew and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Ammonia, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the manufacture of ammonia by passing a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen in the gaseous condition over' a catalytic agent consisting of or containing uranium. We have found that such catalytic agent consisting of or containing ferred to con subjected to ,high pressure; for instance at 'a pressure of {from 100 to 200 atmospheres.

able temperatures for carryi steam and water, or bodies which give rise uranium induces the reaction, forming ammonia at comparatively low temperature,

and this is particularly important. because at higher temperatures the concentration Wl'llcll the ammonia can arrlve at in the gases diminishes considerably.

. In carrying out our nvention it ispronet the process with the gases It is preferred to use- -sescoris'istmg of nitrogen and hydrogen m;combin1ngpr'oportions, that is to say, one volgme of mtr0 gen to three volumes ofhydrogen, and jsuit-.

dgout thejreaction. lie between five hun red .and six hundred degrees centigrade, although aminonia is formed in considerable quantities even below five hundred degrees'cent'igrade. As uraniumtendstolose its efiiciency as a catalytic'agent, if it be converted nto its oxid, it is desirable that the presence of to steam and water, should be avoided. Either metallic uranium, uranium mtr d,

or alloys containing uranium, can'be employed, and if desiredthese bodies ca 1 1 be'- mixed with other bodies,for-1nstance'w1th an indifl'erent bodysuchas clay, asbestos,

- either as the metal or the nitrid, or as an Quartz, or indifierent metals, or the uranium alloy) can he used in admixture with other bodies which also have a catalytic action;

for example uranium-manganese may be Q used.

The percentage of uraniumrontainedin the alloys and mixtures used according to this invention can be very wldely varied.

A suitable alloy is for instance one contain,-

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 25 1911 Application and May. is,

1910, a Serial No. 562,094. 7

I ing seventy per cent. of uranium and thirty per cent, of-manganese.

temperature, it breaks down to a fine powder than is metallic uranium. The uranium conelectric furnace according t'othe method proposed by Moissan behaves in a similar man- Now what'we claim is:

.1. The process of producing ammonia by passing'a gaseous mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen,-but free from oxygen,

2. The process of producing ammonia by passing a gaseous mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen, but .free frombxygen, over a heated i catalytic agent contalning uranium, while fcarr'ying out the reaction under ressure,

- 3'. The process of producing ammonia by over. a-heated catalytic agent containing scribing witnesses. v a r FRITZHA-BERQ ROBERT LEROSSIGNLOL.

Witnessgsi i Enamel-Lives setour hands in the presence of two sub- -when carrying out our invention, it: is, not necessary thatthe uranium be prepared" '60 over a heatedfcatalytic agent containing passing a gaseous mixture containing nitro-- genfandhydrogen, but free. from oxygen,

drogen. gases be passed over it at an elevated.

which contains uranium nitrid and which, .as a catalytic agent, is even more efi'e'ctlve taini-ng ca'rbid, which can 'be prepared in an v uranium, while carryi'ngout thereactionwIn testimony whereof we have hereunto 

